Machine for shaping tobacco mass



Aug-18,1942 K. E. GRANSTEDT 2,293,057

MACHINE FQR SHAPING TGBACCO MASS Filed June 30, 1939 Patented Aug. 18,1942 MACHINE FOR SHAPING TOBACCO MASS Karl Erik Granstedt, Stockholm,Sweden, assignor to Aktiebolaget Formator, Stockholm, Sweden, ajoint-stock company of Sweden Application June 30, 1939, Serial No.282,265 In Germany June 30, 1938 a claims. (01. 131-81) This inventionrelates to machines for shaping a tobacco mass in which a quantity oftobacco is compressed in a receiver. The receiver consists in general ofa compression chamber and a movable piston and is provided with an inletopening in one of its walls below the retracted position of the pistonthrough which the tobacco enters the chamber of the receiver and iscompressed by the inward movement of the piston. Furthermore, a tobaccosupply channel is arranged in front of said inlet opening to receive andconvey tobacco'into said chamber of the receiver, and the bottom of saidchannel is swingable to an inner position in which said inlet opening isclosed. Furthermore, a chute is arranged for conveying tobacco into saidchannel. In operation, it might occur that tobacco particles will remainin the chute and drop off the loweredge thereof when the bottom of thesupply channel is swung inward to close the inlet opening, which tobaccoparticles will drop onto the frame and other parts of the machine andadhere thereto. Furthermore, such tobacco particles might drop onto therolling apron adapted for manufacturing cigar bunches, and thereby theuniform supply of tobacco to said apron will be disturbed. It is a mainobject of the invention to remove said drawbacks.

In the annexed drawing Figure 1 is an elevational side view, partly insection, of an embodiment of the invention. Figure 2 is a diagrammaticside view of the upper-part of the machine with some parts in differentpositions and some parts omitted.

A vertical receiver I is mounted on the machine frame 3 and is open atits top and bottom ends and provided with a lateral inlet opening 2 fortobacco and with a vertically movable piston 25. In front of the inletopening is arranged a channel or funnel formed of an inclined front wallor bottom 26 which is pivotally mounted at its lower edge to thereceiver I by means of a pivot hinge 2'! and of two stationary sidewalls 28 formed on the receiver I which bear against each of the sideedges of the inclined bottom 26. Said bottom 26 can be swung inwardly soas to completely cover the inlet opening 2 and form a closure for saidopening. This closure is held in its inclined open position by means ofa support II, projecting from the frame 3 and having at its top end aroller l3 bearing against a rib I4 or the like on the outside of theclosure. Above the upper edge of the closure 26 in its open position isarranged a stationary chute 4, adapted to receive tobacco and deliversame to the funnel. 55

Thus the chute 4 may be supplied with tobacco by means of a pincherdevice, such as described in the Patent No. 1,619,507 granted toGranstedt. A cutter I2 is adapted to cut off tobacco portions of uniformsize expelled by the piston 25 from the receiver I. The out 01f tobaccoportions drop into a mould 5 formed by an apron 6 placed upon a cigarrolling table I, and a roller I5 is movable by well known means in thedirection of the arrow to cause the apron 6 to wind up said tobaccoportion in a wrapper placed upon the apron 6. The cutter I2 and closure26 are operated by a mechanism of the kind described in U. S. Patent No.1,716,117 to Dahlstrom. Thus the closure 7.6 is closed when the receiverI together with the closure is moved downwards. To this end the receiveris mounted on a rod I6 which is actuated by a lever arm II. The arm Hhas a roller I8 which rides on a cam l9 secured to a continuouslyrotating driving shaft.

An apron 8 of rubber is attached at one of its ends to the upper edge ofthe closure 26, in any conventional manner, as by adhesive, tacks or thelike, and is slightly wider than the funnel formed by the walls 28 andthe closure 26'. The apron is supported by an idle roller 9 and itsother end is attached to a tension spring III secured to the machineframe. When the receiver I is moved downwards and the closure 26 isclosed the apron 8 is pulled towards the receiver I so that it formsbelow the chute 4 a screen which prevents tobacco particles fromdropping from the chute 4 onto the machine frame and the cigar rollingapron 6. Tobacco particles dropping onto the inclined part of the apron8 will be conveyed into the opening 2 if the closure 26 has not yet beencompletely closed. If the closure has been closed such subsequentlydropping tobacco particles will be conveyed against the wall of thereceiver above the closure 26, and when the closure is opened they dropimmediately into the inlet opening 2 of the receiver.

I claim:

1. Ina machine for shaping tobacco mass in accordance with the desiredshape of tobacco articles to be manufactured, a receiver for the tobaccomass, said receiver having an inlet opening in its lateral wall, meansforming a tobacco supply channel arranged in the front of said inletopening and having an inclined bottom, hinge means at the lower end ofsaid bottom enabling said bottom to be swung to close said inletopening, means for delivering tobacco to said channel to be conveyedinto said receiver, an apron arranged below said delivery means andbeing connected to and inclining towards the upper end of said bottom,and means for swinging said bottom to close said inlet opening and toform part of said lateral wall and to cause said apron to approach saidlateral wall with decreasing inclination and forming an upwardlydirected increasing ridge at the connection between said apron and saidbottom so as to form a bridge extending from said lateral wall andaccumulating tobacco dropping from said delivery means when said lateralopening is closed by said bottom.

2. In a machine for shaping tobacco mass in accordance with the desiredshape of tobacco articles to be manufactured, a receiver for the tobaccomass, said receiver having an inlet opening in its lateral wall, meansforming a tobacco supply channel arranged in the front of said inletopening and having an inclined bottom, hinge means at the lower end ofsaid bottom enabling said bottom to be swung to close said inletopening, means for delivering tobacco to said channel to be conveyedinto said receiver, an apron arranged below said delivery means andbeing connected to and inclining towards the upper end of said bottom,and means for swinging said bottom to close said inlet opening and formpart of said lateral wall and cause said apron to approach said lateralwall with decreasing inclination and forming an upwardly directedincreasing ridge at the connection between said apron and said bottom soas to form a bridge extending from said lateral wall and accumulatingtobacco dropping from said delivery means when said lateral opening isclosed by said bottom.

3. In a machine for shaping tobacco mass in accordance with the desiredshape of tobacco articles to be manufactured, a receiver for the tobaccomass, said receiver having a lateral wall provided with an inletopening, a tobacco supply channel arranged in front of said inletopening and having an inclined bottom, hinge means at the lower edge ofsaid bottom enabling said bottom to be swung to close said inletopening, a chute positioned substantially above said channel forconveying tobacco into said channel and an apron connected to the upperend of said bottom of said channel for receiving and conveying to saidchannel tobacco dropping from said chute and to accumulate tobacco whensaid bottom is in its closed position, said upper end of said bottombeing, when in its closed, position, at a higher level than the level ofthe bottom end of said chute, said apron extending laterally from theupper edge of the bottom and forming a bridge between said upper end ofsaid bottom and said bottom end of said chute when said bottom is in itsclosed position.

KARL ERIK GRANSTEDT.

